Ex-flight attendant trades the cabin for the dance floor and earns £100 an hour as a belly dancer
Lizzie Abou Chedid, 37, spent nearly a decade with Emirates before the Covid-19 pandemic grounded her in Dubai. Having been a belly dance enthusiast since she was 18, the unexpected downtime allowed Lizzie to hone her skills daily on Zoom with her mentor, Leyla, 43. Training to become both a teacher and performer, Lizzie hit the ground running as soon as restrictions eased in Dubai, performing at various events. After welcoming her son Khalil, four, in October 2021, Lizzie and her husband Naji, 52, decided to return to the UK in August 2022. She hung up her Emirates uniform for good in March of the same year. Now she's shaking things up part-time as a belly dancer, lighting up restaurants and corporate events across Manchester and Liverpool, and pulling in £8,000 a year, including her teaching income. She also earns around £500 per month teaching belly dancing in three weekly classes.
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A decade of Emirates ends as she pivots to belly dancing
Lizzie Abou Chedid, 37, was part of Emirates' cabin crew for nearly a decade before the Covid-19 pandemic grounded her in Dubai. Having been a belly dance enthusiast since she was 18, downtime allowed Lizzie to hone her skills daily on Zoom with her mentor, Leyla, 43. Training to become both a teacher and performer, Lizzie hit the ground running as soon as restrictions eased in Dubai, performing at various events. After welcoming her son Khalil, four, in October 2021, Lizzie and her husband Naji, 52, decided to return to the UK in August 2022. She hung up her Emirates uniform for good in March of the same year.
From online classes to a spare room studio
"I always had a fascination with belly dancing. My teacher had been having weekly classes doing online Zoom classes – I was training every single day. She trained me and it became an obsession. We turned the spare room into a little studio for me." "That was it, train, train, and then with Dubai, we came out of lockdown a lot sooner than a lot of other places. I was immediately asked to do group gigs or bits on my own." "A friend of mine recommended me to [...] an agency in the UK without me knowing which was really sweet of her. It went from there – I'm really busy I do one to two gigs a week mostly in restaurants and so some corporate things and occasions like weddings and birthday celebrations." "I absolutely love it. My husband always says to me if I'm a bit moody 'you need to go and dance'." "Lizzie's belly dancing mentor offered to coach her to become both a teacher and performer."
Dubai reopening brings gigs and a UK return
Lizzie relocated to Dubai in 2013 after landing her Emirates job, met her husband Naji at a mate's wedding in 2018, and tied the knot just three weeks before lockdown kicked in. After stepping up her training, Lizzie's belly dancing mentor offered to coach her to become both a teacher and performer. "That was a far-off dream I thought would never happen. I thought 'am I not too old now to be a performer', I was 31. The tourism industry [in Dubai] wanted to pick back up and get people back in and there was a shortage of dancers. I would do maybe a flight a month or one every two weeks." Lizzie added while she was pregnant she continued to teach the dancing form and even revealed belly dancing while pregnant actually came with health benefits. Lizzie was part of Emirates' cabin crew for nearly a decade (Image: William Lailey / SWNS) She explained: "I carried on teaching whilst pregnant which is great, belly dancing whilst pregnant is so good for you. I went back to performing when he [Khalil] was two months old". Now, she's shaking things up part-time as a belly dancer, lighting up restaurants and corporate events across Manchester and Liverpool, and pulling in £8,000 per year, including her teaching income. She also earns around £500 per month teaching belly dancing in three weekly classes.
